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143 records returned

The origin and early evolution of dinosaurs.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
ABSTRACT The oldest unequivocal records of Dinosauria were unearthed from Late Triassic rocks (approximately 230 Ma) accumulated over extensional rift basins in southwestern Pangea. The better known of these are Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis, Pisanosaurus mertii, Eoraptor lunensis, and Panphagia protos from the Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina, and Staurikosaurus pricei and Saturnalia tupiniquim from the Santa Maria Formation, Brazil. No uncontroversial dinosaur body fossils are known from older strata, but the Middle Triassic origin of the lineage may be inferred from both the footprint record and its sister-group...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 6, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Langer MC, Ezcurra MD, Bittencourt JS, Novas FE Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

A unifying explanation for diverse metabolic scaling in animals and plants.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
ABSTRACT The scaling of metabolic rate with body mass has long been a controversial topic. Some workers have claimed that the slope of log-log metabolic scaling relationships typically obeys a universal 3/4-power law resulting from the geometry of resource-transport networks. Others have attempted to explain the broad diversity of metabolic scaling relationships. Although several potentially useful models have been proposed, at present none successfully predicts the entire range of scaling relationships seen among both physiological states and taxonomic groups of animals and plants. Here I argue that our understanding ...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 6, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Glazier DS Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Genus-level supertree of Cyprinidae (Actinopterygii: Cypriniformes), partitioned qualitative clade support and test of macro-evolutionary scenarios.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We used the supertree approach of matrix representation with parsimony to reconstruct to date the most exhaustive (genus-level) phylogeny of Cyprinidae. The supertree of Cyprinidae, representing 397 taxa (237 nominal genera) and 990 pseudocharacters, was well resolved (96%) through extended consensus majority rule, although 36 nodes (9.4%) were unsupported. The proportion of shared taxa among source trees was very low after calculation of the taxonomic coverage index (TCI = 0.059), which is proposed here as a more accurate alternative to the usual ratios calculated from the number of pseudo-characters or source trees p...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - October 28, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Gaubert P, Denys G, Oberdorff T Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent transcriptional pathways: potential mediators of skeletal muscle growth and development.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We describe: (1) how conformational changes in the Ca(2+) sensor calmodulin result in the exposure of binding pockets for the target proteins (CaMKs and calcineurin). (2) How Calmodulin consequently activates either the Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent kinases pathways (via CaMKs) or calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine phosphatases (via calcineurin). (3) How calmodulin kinases alter transcription in the nucleus through the phosphorylation, deactivation and translocation of histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. (4) How calcineurin transmits signals to the nucleus through the dephosphorylation and tra...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - September 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Al-Shanti N, Stewart CE Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Bridging the generation gap: flowering plant gametophytes and animal germlines reveal unexpected similarities.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
ABSTRACT Alternation of generations underpins all plant life histories and is held to possess important adaptive features. A wide range of data have accumulated over the past century which suggest that alternation from sporophyte to gametophyte in angiosperms includes a significant phase of 'informational reprogramming', leaving the founder cells of the gametophyte developmentally uncommitted. This review attempts to bring together results from these historic studies with more recent data on molecular and epigenetic events which accompany alternation, gametophyte development and gametogenesis in angiosperms. It is stri...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - September 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Dickinson HG, Grant-Downton R Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

A meta-analysis of parasite virulence in nestling birds.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
ABSTRACT Parasitism is a common cause of host mortality, but little is known about the ecological factors affecting parasite virulence (the rate of mortality among infected hosts). We reviewed 117 field estimates of parasite-induced nestling mortality in birds, showing that there was significant consistency in mortality among host and parasite taxa. Virulence increased towards the tropics in analyses of both species-specific data and phylogenetic analyses. We found evidence of greater parasite prevalence being associated with reduced virulence. Furthermore, bird species breeding in open nest sites suffered from greater...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - August 6, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Møller AP, Arriero E, Lobato E, Merino S Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

The integration of digestion and osmoregulation in the avian gut.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
ABSTRACT We review digestion and osmoregulation in the avian gut, with an emphasis on the ways these different functions might interact to support or constrain each other and the ways they support the functioning of the whole animal in its natural environment. Differences between birds and other vertebrates are highlighted because these differences may make birds excellent models for study and may suggest interesting directions for future research. At a given body size birds, compared with mammals, tend to eat more food but have less small intestine and retain food in their gastrointestinal tract (GIT) for shorter peri...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - August 6, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: McWhorter TJ, Caviedes-Vidal E, Karasov WH Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Acoustic communication in crocodilians: from behaviour to brain.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Crocodilians and birds are the modern representatives of Phylum Archosauria. Although there have been recent advances in our understanding of the phylogeny and ecology of ancient archosaurs like dinosaurs, it still remains a challenge to obtain reliable information about their behaviour. The comparative study of birds and crocodiles represents one approach to this interesting problem. One of their shared behavioural features is the use of acoustic communication, especially in the context of parental care. Although considerable data are available for birds, information concerning crocodilians is limited. The aim of this...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - July 31, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Vergne AL, Pritz MB, Mathevon N Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Multiple roles of the cytoskeleton in autophagy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Autophagy is involved in a wide range of physiological processes including cellular remodeling during development, immuno-protection against heterologous invaders and elimination of aberrant or obsolete cellular structures. This conserved degradation pathway also plays a key role in maintaining intracellular nutritional homeostasis and during starvation, for example, it is involved in the recycling of unnecessary cellular components to compensate for the limitation of nutrients. Autophagy is characterized by specific membrane rearrangements that culminate with the formation of large cytosolic double-membrane vesicles c...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - July 31, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Monastyrska I, Rieter E, Klionsky DJ, Reggiori F Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Strategies of survival and resource exploitation in the Antarctic fellfield ecosystem.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Antarctic fellfields present organisms with a heterogeneous habitat characterised by a wide variety of environmental stresses. These include low temperatures, limited moisture availability, frequent and often rapid freeze-thaw and hydration-dehydration cycles, exposure to high photosynthetic photon flux density and ultraviolet (uv) irradiance, seasonal snow cover, high winds, cryoturbation and, depending on location south of the Antarctic Circle, considerable daylight in summer. Most of these factors vary both predictably and unpredictably in spatial and temporal planes. In response to this adverse environment, fellfie...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - July 31, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Block W, Lewis Smith RI, Kennedy AD Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Predators and the breeding bird: behavioral and reproductive flexibility under the risk of predation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A growing body of work suggests that breeding birds have a significant capacity to assess and respond, over ecological time, to changes in the risk of predation to both themselves and their eggs or nestlings. This review investigates the nature of this flexibility in the face of predation from both behavioural and reproductive perspectives, and also explores several directions for future research. Most available work addresses different aspects of nest predation. A substantial change in breeding location is perhaps the best documented response to nest predation, but such changes are not always observed and not necessar...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - July 31, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Lima SL Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Impacts of increased sediment loads on the ecology of lakes.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Increased sediment loading comprises one of the most important and pervasive anthropogenic impacts on aquatic ecosystems globally. In spite of this, little is known of the overall effects of increased sediment loads on lakes. By modifying both bottom-up and top-down ecological processes and restructuring energy flow pathways, increased sediment loads not only alter biotic assemblage structure and ecological functioning significantly, but frequently result in reduced biological diversity and productivity. Although lake food-webs can be subsidised to some extent by the adsorption of organic carbon to fine sedime...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - May 27, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Donohue I, Garcia Molinos J Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Time as an ecological constraint.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Conventional approaches to population biology emphasise the roles of climatic conditions, nutrient flow and predation as constraints on population dynamics. We argue here that this focus has obscured the role of time as a crucial constraint on species' abilities to survive in some habitats. Time constraints may be particularly intrusive both for species that live in intensely bonded groups (where the need to devote time to social interaction may ultimately limit the size of group that a species can maintain in a particular habitat) and for taxa that face constraints on the length of the active day. We use a l...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - May 27, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Dunbar RI, Korstjens AH, Lehmann J, Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

The role of microarthropods in terrestrial decomposition: a meta-analysis of 40 years of litterbag studies.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Litterbags have been utilized in soil ecology for about 50 years. They are useful because they confine organic material and thus enable the study of decomposition dynamics (mass loss and/or nutrient loss through time, colonization by soil biota) in situ, i.e. under field conditions. Researchers can easily restrict or permit access to certain size classes of soil fauna to determine their contribution to litter mass loss by choosing adequate mesh size or applying specific biocides. In particular, the mesofauna has received much attention since it comprises two very abundant and diverse microarthropod groups, the...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - May 26, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Kampichler C, Bruckner A Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Consumptive emasculation: the ecological and evolutionary consequences of pollen theft.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Many of the diverse animals that consume floral rewards act as efficient pollinators; however, others 'steal' rewards without 'paying' for them by pollinating. In contrast to the extensive studies of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of nectar theft, pollen theft and its implications remain largely neglected, even though it affects plant reproduction more directly. Here we review existing studies of pollen theft and find that: (1) most pollen thieves pollinate other plant species, suggesting that theft generally arises from a mismatch between the flower and thief that precludes pollen deposition, (2) bees ar...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - April 30, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Hargreaves AL, Harder LD, Johnson SD Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Extended phenotypes as signals.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Animal signals may result from construction behaviour and can provide receivers with essential information in various contexts. Here we explore the potential benefits of extended phenotypes with a signalling function as compared to bodily ornaments and behavioural displays. Their independence of the body, their physical persistence and the morphological and cognitive conditions required for their construction allow unique communication possibilities. We classify various levels of information transfer by extended phenotype signals and explore the differences between secreted signals and signals resulting from collection...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - April 30, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Schaedelin FC, Taborsky M Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

A comparative view on mechanisms and functions of skeletal remodelling in teleost fish, with special emphasis on osteoclasts and their function.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Resorption and remodelling of skeletal tissues is required for development and growth, mechanical adaptation, repair, and mineral homeostasis of the vertebrate skeleton. Here we review for the first time the current knowledge about resorption and remodelling of the skeleton in teleost fish, the largest and most diverse group of extant vertebrates. Teleost species are increasingly used in aquaculture and as models in biomedical skeletal research. Thus, detailed knowledge is required to establish the differences and similarities between mammalian and teleost skeletal remodelling, and between distantly related species suc...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - April 30, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Witten PE, Huysseune A Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

A warm thermal enclave in the late Pleistocene of the south-eastern United States.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Physical and biological evidence supports the probable existence of an enclave of relatively warm climate located between the Southern Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean in the United States during the Last Glacial Maximum. The region supported a mosaic of forest and prairie habitats inhabited by a "Floridian" ice-age biota. Plant and vertebrate remains suggest an ecological gradient towards Cape Hatteras (35 degreesN) wherein forests tended to replace prairies, and browsing proboscideans tended to replace grazing proboscideans. Beyond 35 degreesN, warm waters of the Gulf Stream were deflected towards the cen...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - April 30, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Russell DA, Rich FJ, Schneider V, Lynch-Stieglitz J Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Land crabs as key drivers in tropical coastal forest recruitment.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Plant populations are regulated by a diverse assortment of abiotic and biotic factors that influence seed dispersal and viability, and seedling establishment and growth at the microsite. Rarely does one animal guild exert as significant an influence on different plant assemblages as land crabs. We review three tropical coastal ecosystems-mangroves, island maritime forests, and mainland coastal terrestrial forests-where land crabs directly influence forest composition by limiting tree establishment and recruitment. Land crabs differentially prey on seeds, propagules and seedlings along nutrient, chemical and physical en...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - April 30, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Lindquist ES, Krauss KW, Green PT, O'Dowd DJ, Sherman PM, Smith TJ Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

To what extent did Neanderthals and modern humans interact?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Neanderthals represent an extinct hominid lineage that existed in Europe and Asia for nearly 400,000 years. They thrived in these regions for much of this time, but declined in numbers and went extinct around 30,000 years ago. Interestingly, their disappearance occurred subsequent to the arrival of modern humans into these areas, which has prompted some to argue that Neanderthals were displaced by better suited and more adaptable modern humans. Still others have postulated that Neanderthals were assimilated into the gene pool of modern humans by admixture. Until relatively recently, conclusions about the relationships ...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - April 30, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Herrera KJ, Somarelli JA, Lowery RK, Herrera RJ Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Bacterial pathogens in wild birds: a review of the frequency and effects of infection.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract The importance of wild birds as potential vectors of disease has received recent renewed empirical interest, especially regarding human health. Understanding the spread of bacterial pathogens in wild birds may serve as a useful model for examining the spread of other disease organisms, both amongst birds, and from birds to other taxa. Information regarding the normal gastrointestinal bacterial flora is limited for the majority of wild bird species, with the few well-studied examples concentrating on bacteria that are zoonotic and/or relate to avian species of commercial interest. However, most studies are limi...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - April 28, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Benskin CM, Wilson K, Jones K, Hartley IR Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Animal performance and stress: responses and tolerance limits at different levels of biological organisation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Recent advances in molecular biology and the use of DNA microarrays for gene expression profiling are providing new insights into the animal stress response, particularly the effects of stress on gene regulation. However, interpretation of the complex transcriptional changes that occur during stress still poses many challenges because the relationship between changes at the transcriptional level and other levels of biological organisation is not well understood. To confront these challenges, a conceptual model linking physiological and transcriptional responses to stress would be helpful. Here, we provide the ...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - March 2, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Kassahn KS, Crozier RH, Pörtner HO, Caley MJ Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Male infertility, female fertility and extrapair copulations.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Females that are socially bonded to a single male, either in a social monogamy or in a social polygyny, are often sexually polyandrous. Extrapair copulations (EPC) have often been suggested or rejected, on both empirical and theoretical grounds, as an important mechanism that enables females to avoid fertility risks in case their socially bonded male is infertile. Here, we explore this possibility in two steps. First, we present a mathematical model that assumes that females have no precopulatory information about male fertility, and shows that a female EPC strategy increases female reproductive success only i...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - March 2, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Hasson O, Stone L Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Comparative studies of brain evolution: a critical insight from the Chiroptera.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Comparative studies of brain size have a long history and contributed much to our understanding of the evolution and function of the brain and its parts. Recently, bats have been used increasingly as model organisms for such studies because of their large number of species, high diversity of life-history strategies, and a comparatively detailed knowledge of their neuroanatomy. Here, we draw attention to inherent problems of comparative brain size studies, highlighting limitations but also suggesting alternative approaches. We argue that the complexity and diversity of neurological tasks that the brain and its functiona...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - February 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Dechmann DK, Safi K Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Control of Cell Volume in Skeletal Muscle.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Regulation of cell volume is a fundamental property of all animal cells and is of particular importance in skeletal muscle where exercise is associated with a wide range of cellular changes that would be expected to influence cell volume. These complex electrical, metabolic and osmotic changes, however, make rigorous study of the consequences of individual factors on muscle volume difficult despite their likely importance during exercise. Recent charge-difference modelling of cell volume distinguishes three major aspects to processes underlying cell volume control: (i) determination by intracellular impermeant...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - December 19, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Usher-Smith JA, Huang CL, Fraser JA Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Testing co-evolutionary hypotheses over geological timescales: interactions between Mesozoic non-avian dinosaurs and cycads.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract The significance of co-evolution over ecological timescales is well established, yet it remains unclear to what extent co-evolutionary processes contribute to driving large-scale evolutionary and ecological changes over geological timescales. Some of the most intriguing and pervasive long-term co-evolutionary hypotheses relate to proposed interactions between herbivorous non-avian dinosaurs and Mesozoic plants, including cycads. Dinosaurs have been proposed as key dispersers of cycad seeds during the Mesozoic, and temporal variation in cycad diversity and abundance has been linked to dinosaur faunal changes. H...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - December 19, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Butler RJ, Barrett PM, Kenrick P, Penn MG Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

The evolutionary ecology of detritus feeding in the larvae of freshwater Diptera.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Detritus (dead organic matter), largely of terrestrial origin, is superabundant in inland waters but because of its indigestible nature, would appear to be a poor food source for animals. Yet this unpromising material is widely used as food and indeed can be viewed as a defining characteristic of the freshwater environment. We here explore the relationships among animals, detritus and its associated micro-organism decomposers, taking a functional approach. We pose questions about interrelationships and attempt to arrive at new insights by disentangling them from an adaptive point of view. To do this we have be...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - December 11, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: McLachlan AJ, Ladle RJ Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Isotopic ecology ten years after a call for more laboratory experiments.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract About 10 years ago, reviews of the use of stable isotopes in animal ecology predicted explosive growth in this field and called for laboratory experiments to provide a mechanistic foundation to this growth. They identified four major areas of inquiry: (1) the dynamics of isotopic incorporation, (2) mixing models, (3) the problem of routing, and (4) trophic discrimination factors. Because these areas remain central to isotopic ecology, we use them as organising foci to review the experimental results that isotopic ecologists have collected in the intervening 10 years since the call for laboratory experiments. W...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 22, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Martínez Del Rio C, Wolf N, Carleton SA, Gannes LZ Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Parasites, democratization, and the liberalization of values across contemporary countries.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract The countries of the world vary in their position along the autocracy-democracy continuum of values. Traditionally, scholars explain this variation as based on resource distribution and disparity among nations. We provide a different framework for understanding the autocracy-democracy dimension and related value dimensions, one that is complementary (not alternative) to the research tradition, but more encompassing, involving both evolutionary (ultimate) and proximate causation of the values. We hypothesize that the variation in values pertaining to autocracy-democracy arises fundamentally out of human (Homo s...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 22, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Thornhill R, Fincher CL, Aran D Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

The roles of microRNA in cancer and apoptosis.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract microRNAs (miRNAs) are highly conserved, non-protein-coding RNAs that function to regulate gene expression. In mammals this regulation is primarily carried out by repression of translation. miRNAs play important roles in homeostatic processes such as development, cell proliferation and cell death. Recently the dysregulation of miRNAs has been linked to cancer initiation and progression, indicating that miRNAs may play roles as tumour suppressor genes or oncogenes. The role of miRNAs in apoptosis is not fully understood, however, evidence is mounting that miRNAs are important in this process. The dysregulation ...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 22, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Lynam-Lennon N, Maher SG, Reynolds JV Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Behavioural environments and niche construction: the evolution of dim-light foraging in bees.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Most bees forage for floral resources during the day, but temporal patterns of foraging activity vary extensively, and foraging in dim-light environments has evolved repeatedly. Facultative dim-light foraging behaviour is known in five of nine families of bees, while obligate behaviour is known in four families and evolved independently at least 19 times. The light intensity under which bees forage varies by a factor of 10(8), and therefore the evolution of dim-light foraging represents the invasion of a new, extreme niche. The repeated evolution of dim-light foraging behaviour in bees allows tests of the hypo...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 22, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Wcislo WT, Tierney SM Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Heterotrophy in Tropical Scleractinian Corals.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract The dual character of corals, that they are both auto- and heterotrophs, was recognized early in the twentieth Century. It is generally accepted that the symbiotic association between corals and their endosymbiotic algae (called zooxanthellae) is fundamental to the development of coral reefs in oligotrophic tropical oceans because zooxanthellae transfer the major part of their photosynthates to the coral host (autotrophic nutrition). However, numerous studies have confirmed that many species of corals are also active heterotrophs, ingesting organisms ranging from bacteria to mesozooplankton. Heterotrophy accou...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 22, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Houlbrèque F, Ferrier-Pagès C Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Climate change and freshwater biodiversity: detected patterns, future trends and adaptations in northern regions.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Current rates of climate change are unprecedented, and biological responses to these changes have also been rapid at the levels of ecosystems, communities, and species. Most research on climate change effects on biodiversity has concentrated on the terrestrial realm, and considerable changes in terrestrial biodiversity and species' distributions have already been detected in response to climate change. The studies that have considered organisms in the freshwater realm have also shown that freshwater biodiversity is highly vulnerable to climate change, with extinction rates and extirpations of freshwater specie...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 11, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Heino J, Virkkala R, Toivonen H Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

From food-dependent statistics to metabolic parameters, a practical guide to the use of dynamic energy budget theory.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We present new methods (and software) to extract food-independent parameter values of the energy budget from food-dependent quantities that are easy to observe, and so facilitate the practical application of the theory to enhance predictability and extrapolation. A natural sequence of 10 steps is discussed to obtain some compound parameters first, then the primary parameters, then the composition parameters and finally the thermodynamic parameters; this sequence matches a sequence of required data of increasing complexity which is discussed in detail. Many applications do not require knowledge of all parameters, and we dis...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - November 1, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Kooijman SA, Sousa T, Pecquerie L, van der Meer J, Jager T Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Does Biology Need an Organism Concept?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Among biologists, there is no general agreement on exactly what entities qualify as 'organisms'. Instead, there are multiple competing organism concepts and definitions. While some authors think this is a problem that should be corrected, others have suggested that biology does not actually need an organism concept. We argue that the organism concept is central to biology and should not be abandoned. Both organism concepts and operational definitions are useful. We review criteria used for recognizing organisms and conclude that they are not categorical but rather continuously variable. Different organism concepts are ...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - October 20, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Pepper JW, Herron MD Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Functional and Numerical Responses of Predators: Where Do Vipers Fit in the Traditional Paradigms?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Snakes typically are not considered top carnivores, yet in many ecosystems they are a major predatory influence. A literature search confirmed that terrestrial ectotherms such as snakes are largely absent in most discussions of predator-prey dynamics. Here, we review classical functional and numerical responses of predator-prey relationships and then assess whether these traditional views are consistent with what we know of one group of snakes (true vipers and pitvipers: Viperidae). Specifically, we compare behavioural and physiological characteristics of vipers with those of more commonly studied mammalian (endothermi...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - October 20, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Nowak EM, Theimer TC, Schuett GW Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Ossification patterns in the tetrapod limb - conservation and divergence from morphogenetic events.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Two different patterns of the condensation and chondrification of the limbs of tetrapods are known from extensive studies on their early skeletal development. These are on the one hand postaxial dominance in the sequential formation of skeletal elements in amniotes and anurans, and on the other, preaxial dominance in urodeles. The present study investigates the relative sequence of ossification in the fore- and hindlimbs of selected tetrapod taxa based on a literature survey in comparison to the patterns of early skeletal development, i.e. mesenchymal condensation and chondrification, representing essential steps in th...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - October 20, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Fröbisch NB Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Oxygen and the Spatial Structure of Microbial Communities.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract Oxygen has two faces. On one side it is the terminal electron acceptor of aerobic respiration - the most efficient engine of energy metabolism. On the other hand, oxygen is toxic because the reduction of molecular O(2) creates reactive oxygen species such as the superoxide anion, peroxide, and the hydroxyl radical. Probably most prokaryotes, and virtually all eukaryotes, depend on oxygen respiration, and we show that the ambiguous relation to oxygen is both an evolutionary force and a dominating factor driving functional interactions and the spatial structure of microbial communities.We focus on microbial comm...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - September 24, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Fenchel T, Finlay B Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Robustness: confronting lessons from physics and biology.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Abstract The term robustness is encountered in very different scientific fields, from engineering and control theory to dynamical systems to biology. The main question addressed herein is whether the notion of robustness and its correlates (stability, resilience, self-organisation) developed in physics are relevant to biology, or whether specific extensions and novel frameworks are required to account for the robustness properties of living systems. To clarify this issue, the different meanings covered by this unique term are discussed; it is argued that they crucially depend on the kind of perturbations that a robust ...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - September 24, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Lesne A Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Hypotheses, mechanisms and trade-offs of tolerance and adaptation to serpentine soils: from species to ecosystem level.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We present hypotheses of the development of serpentine endemism and a description of functional traits of serpentine plants together with a synthesis of species interactions in serpentine soils and their effects on community structure and ecosystem productivity. In addition, we propose hypotheses about the effects of the 'serpentine syndrome' on ecosystem processes including productivity and decomposition. PMID: 18823392 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society)
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - September 24, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Kazakou E, Dimitrakopoulos PG, Baker AJ, Reeves RD, Troumbis AY Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Genomic imprinting in the development and evolution of psychotic spectrum conditions.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
I review and evaluate genetic and genomic evidence salient to the hypothesis that the development and evolution of psychotic spectrum conditions have been mediated in part by alterations of imprinted genes expressed in the brain. Evidence from the genetics and genomics of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, Prader-Willi syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, and other neurogenetic conditions support the hypothesis that the etiologies of psychotic spectrum conditions commonly involve genetic and epigenetic imbalances in the effects of imprinted genes, with a bias towards increased relative effects from imprinted...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - September 9, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Crespi B Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

A claim in search of evidence: reply to Manger's thermogenesis hypothesis of cetacean brain structure.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In a recent publication in Biological Reviews, Manger (2006) made the controversial claim that the large brains of cetaceans evolved to generate heat during oceanic cooling in the Oligocene epoch and not, as is the currently accepted view, as a basis for an increase in cognitive or information-processing capabilities in response to ecological or social pressures. Manger further argued that dolphins and other cetaceans are considerably less intelligent than generally thought. In this review we challenge Manger's arguments and provide abundant evidence that modern cetacean brains are large in order to support complex cog...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - September 9, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Marino L, Butti C, Connor RC, Fordyce RE, Herman LM, Hof PR, Lefebvre L, Lusseau D, McCowan B, Nimchinsky EA, Pack AA, Reidenberg JS, Reiss D, Rendell L, Uhen MD, Van der Gucht E, Whitehead H Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

The Developmental Basis of Skeletal Cell Differentiation and the Molecular Basis of Major Skeletal Defects.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Vertebrate skeletal differentiation retains elements from simpler phyla, and reflects the differentiation of supporting tissues programmed by primary embryonic development. This developmental scheme is driven by homeotic genes expressed in sequence, with subdivision of skeletal primordia driven by a combination of seven transmembrane-pass receptors responding to Wnt-family signals, and by bone morphogenetic family signals that define borders of individual bones. In sea-dwelling vertebrates, an essentially complete form of the skeleton adapted by the land-living vertebrates develops in cartilage, based on type II collag...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - August 14, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Blair HC, Zaidi M, Huang CL, Sun L Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Insect thermal tolerance: what is the role of ontogeny, ageing and senescence?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Temperature has dramatic evolutionary fitness consequences and is therefore a major factor determining the geographic distribution and abundance of ectotherms. However, the role that age might have on insect thermal tolerance is often overlooked in studies of behaviour, ecology, physiology and evolutionary biology. Here, we review the evidence for ontogenetic and ageing effects on traits of high- and low-temperature tolerance in insects and show that these effects are typically pronounced for most taxa in which data are available. We therefore argue that basal thermal tolerance and acclimation responses (i.e. phenotypi...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - June 19, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Bowler K, Terblanche JS Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Morphological plasticity in scleractinian corals.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
When describing coral shape and form the term phenotypic plasticity, i.e. environment-induced changes in morphology, is often used synonymously with intraspecific variation. Variation, however, may simply be due to genetic differentiation (polymorphism). Of the 1314 extant scleractinian coral species, less than 20 have been tested for plastic responses. Morphological plasticity has important implications for coral identification, as skeletal features used in coral systematics are directly affected by environment. Furthermore, plastic changes can indicate how corals acclimatise to environmental change. The studies that ...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - June 19, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Todd PA Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Life history and development - a framework for understanding developmental plasticity in lower termites.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Termites (Isoptera) are the phylogenetically oldest social insects, but in scientific research they have always stood in the shadow of the social Hymenoptera. Both groups of social insects evolved complex societies independently and hence, their different ancestry provided them with different life-history preadaptations for social evolution. Termites, the 'social cockroaches', have a hemimetabolous mode of development and both sexes are diploid, while the social Hymenoptera belong to the holometabolous insects and have a haplodiploid mode of sex determination. Despite this apparent disparity it is interesting to ask wh...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - June 19, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Korb J, Hartfelder K Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Inevitable evolution: back to The Origin and beyond the 20th Century paradigm of contingent evolution by historical natural selection.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Since neo-Darwinism arose from the work of Darwin and Mendel evolution by natural selection has been seen as contingent and historical being defined by an a posteriori selection process with no a priori laws that explain why evolution on Earth has taken the direction of the major evolutionary trends and transitions instead of any other direction. Recently, however, major life-history trends and transitions have been explained as inevitable because of a deterministic selection that unfolds from the energetic state of the organism and the density-dependent competitive interactions that arise from self-replication in limi...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - June 19, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Witting L Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Origin and evolution of the protein-repairing enzymes methionine sulphoxide reductases.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The majority of extant life forms thrive in an O(2)-rich environment, which unavoidably induces the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during cellular activities. ROS readily oxidize methionine (Met) residues in proteins/peptides to form methionine sulphoxide [Met(O)] that can lead to impaired protein function. Two methionine sulphoxide reductases, MsrA and MsrB, catalyse the reduction of the S and R epimers, respectively, of Met(O) in proteins to Met. The Msr system has two known functions in protecting cells against oxidative damage. The first is to repair proteins that have lost activity due to Met oxidatio...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - June 16, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Zhang XH, Weissbach H Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

The role of food, weather and climate in limiting the abundance of animals.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
More and more studies are demonstrating that populations of animals - from herbivores to top predators, vertebrates and invertebrates - are limited by their food, and that the availability of this food is dictated by the weather. Satellite monitoring is revealing how cyclic and quasi-cyclic climatic patterns, like the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation, are driving and synchronising these weather-driven changes in the supplies of food. Changes in the amount of food available operate to limit the abundance of populations largely through their influence on the survival of the very young:...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - June 16, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: White TC Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals

Insect sperm motility.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The flagellosperm of insects, although following a general ground plan, exhibit considerable variation in morphology and ultrastructure across taxa, consistent with a history of rapid and divergent evolution. Sperm competition, which occurs when sperm of two or more males compete for the fertilization of a female's ova, has been recognized as a significant driving force in the evolution of insect sperm structure. Despite a considerable volume of data on sperm morphology, little is known about the motility of insect sperm. Understanding insect sperm motility would help to refine models of sexual selection on insect sper...
Source: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society - May 1, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Werner M, Simmons LW Tags: Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc Source Type: journals